Calling transplant centres worldwide to share their experiences of COVID-19 vaccination practices
5 November 2021
EASL, the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) with the European Liver and Intestine Transplantation Association (ELITA), and the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS), are calling transplant centres across the globe to share their experiences of offering and administering COVID-19 vaccination to transplant patients, allowing the transplant community to obtain a clear overview of the international situation. With this three-way collaboration, we are pleased to be launching a survey on vaccination to explore: policy, safety, and efficacy. We will be sending this survey to hundreds of transplant centres worldwide.
Building on the success of recent multi-society collaboration
This initiative builds on the recent success of our multi-society effort: a publication of the findings of a survey we held in 2020 and sent to 470 centres worldwide, serving to explore how patients, healthcare professionals, and liver transplant centres across the world were affected by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey findings were published on 12 October 2021 in the Journal of Hepatology: “Global impact of the first wave of COVID-19 on liver transplant centers: A multi-society survey (EASL-ESOT/ELITA-ILTS)”, by Prof. Francesco Paolo Russo et al.
Transplant centres may elect to respond to this survey anonymously, indicating only their geographical location. Once the data is collected and analysed, the results of this survey will be disseminated, via in a peer-reviewed publication. We encourage the transplant community to share the call for participation with sister societies around the world. Your participation is greatly appreciated.
The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly upended our lives last year, profoundly changing our daily routine. In a socially distanced world, we have learned that the digital approach to community engagement is more important than ever before. Thanks to the tremendous participation from all parts of the world and the success achieved with the first survey, we decide to launch a second survey, collecting the global experience with anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in the transplant setting,
wrote Prof. Francesco Paolo Russo, lead author and Associate Professor of Gastroenterology University of Padova, Italy
Following our first multi-society survey demonstrating the remarkable impact of the pandemic on liver transplant practices and operations throughout the world, it is important to now evaluate the liver transplant centres’ approaches and experiences with COVID-19 vaccination, in this particular patient population. Learning about the different approaches and practices of different centres around the world and disseminating that in a peer-reviewed publication may help us refine those practices globally, as we learn from one other’s experiences,
said Prof. Manhal Izzy, chair of the ILTS Education and Scholarship Committee and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, USA.
